This is the downbeat on ninety seven to one, the freak five four three two one. Level up, level up up, leve level up, level up up up, leve it up. But this room just got a lot more handsome once we turned on the big screen. That lord audio only please get to him in one second. Uh, it's our our Kevin of the day, as Kevin Turner not with us today. I've been tracking this flight
it is. It was just five minutes and now it's switched to arriving shortly our sweet Kevin Turner destination Barcelona. He's going to be uh planes hitting the ground or I've just landed. He just landed, land taxing to terminal one. All that conversation, all the concern and sweet Cavio and Roxy just landed in the last one minute. I didn't notice. This is a connector flight
to get him to uh Milan. Yeah, Barcelona to Milan. He's going to have to fly over yet another body of water to complete Yeah, to complete his trip. It looks like we might be toasted. Yeah we do. Have We replaced one Kevin with another. Stay tuned for tomorrow when we have former medieval warrior Kevin Sorbo. Yeah. Joining us, Kevin Sorbow will join us, and fake Kevin Costner is probably gonna call in early in the show too. But we're all good today because we've got a good Kevin.
It is our friend, Kevin Gray. He is the host of the MAVs Free and Postgame Show. Here on ninety seven on The Freak, excuse'se a YouTube sensation? The guy ever? I look, I see Kevin Gray covering something in this town, making quite the name for him. Sophomore. Honored to have you with us on the downbeat on ninety seven on the Freak. What's up baby? Good morning fellas. How are you We're doing good? Man? I'm glad we don't have a camera in here because you are looking
sharp? What are you doing with Pepper? If I had hair? There's plenty of assualt represented these days. Yeah, man, you want to have you on? I guess to talk some MAVs and whatever else is on your mind. How you kind of cover everything in this town? But we're going MAVs crazy. We're the home of the Mavericks and you work with us here. I guess. First things first, how do you like in a ninety seven to one man? You made the jump, I was life treating you
I did. I love it, man. It's it's been a new way for me to be able to showcase my broadcasting chops, if you will, and going through I was It's funny you asked me that, because I was thinking about it the other day, that the pace of an eighty two game season and going through that for the very first time throughout the most of the regular season, you get an appreciation for the preparation that goes into the daily work of you know, not only the broadcasts themselves, but covering the team
on a daily basis and being able to put together, you know, a presentation that fans and you know, folks who listen can enjoy, to be able to bring you know, some flavors, some different things to you know, these broadcasts. So I've enjoyed myself. It's tapped into another creative side for me that didn't necessarily know, you know, I thought I had, but I was able to really, you know, dive into it and it's
been great. So I'm really looking forward to this postseason and really being able to have some more fun because this MAVs team has given us a lot of things to have a lot of fun with, So I'm excited about it.
You know, we were talking earlier about just the absolute vast skill set that voice of the Mavericks, Mark Followell has and his ability to retain knowledge, to to remember data and information, and I was curious, like for you, you know, obviously you were tuned in and dialed in on any and all things MAVs related, But how much time are you spending just absorbing and
taking in information on the rest of the NBA. How much time does that consume on your day to day just to make sure that you are connected with this entire league, not just the MAVs. If that is something which I assume that you're you're pretty locked in on. Yeah, it's it's a full time job. I mean being able to try to have a working knowledge of
the rest of the other twenty nine teams in the league. Obviously super heavy in terms of covering the Mavericks on a daily basis, but I mean this team plays everyone else as well, so you've got to be able to have, you know, a working knowledge and understanding of what these other teams are doing as well. So, yeah, I'm constantly watching games or reading articles
and that kind of thing. To be able to keep myself locked in on what's going on outside of the Mavericks so that, you know, it enhances what I do from a broadcast standpoint, and when these teams do see the Mavericks, be able to add that much more depth and knowledge to what you know, these game previews look like and everything else. So it's it's definitely a full time job, but at the same time, it's something that I
love to do. I tell people all the time, these are the days that I pray for to be able to be this kind of busy and doing this kind of work. And it doesn't feel like work necessarily because I enjoy it so much because I get to immerse myself in something that I love and enjoy, which is sports. So it's it's a dream come true for sure.
But yeah, the worl and the grind that goes into it, you definitely have to be able to have that kind of preparation and now is to be able to kind of go through what these teams are doing on a daily base, but also be able to connect it to what the Mavericks are obviously doing. All right, sorry buddy, Kevin Gray jumping in with us. I want to jump in a little bit here, and I guess let's just start with the state of the Western Conference as the playing games started last night.
And this is something Danny and I talked about earlier. It's like, for maybe a casual fan, what is the state of the West, because we had like, you see the Lakers win last night, like, all right, that's Lebron. Then you see the Warriors you eliminated. I'm like, all right, that's good for us. You don't necessarily fear the even the thunder who's a damn number one seed, or Minnesota Timbers, like these other teams that are making the jump backed by incredibly high level, like MVP
level stars like SGA and Anthony Edwards. And I just think it's built into us to think Lakers, Warriors, even Nuggets. Fine, I'm scared of all them. But as we dream about what the Mavericks postseason run could be, we got a lot of oddly oddly hurdles in front of us that we haven't seen for the last few years. So, just even before we go to hardcore MAVs specific in the MAVs Clippers series, what do you think about
the West right now and the changing landscape of it. Yeah, it's interesting because you know, you mentioned with the Thunder, you know, with SGA for s Say, Gilgas Alexander, you know, legitimate MVP candidate, the youngest team to ever get the number one seed. They've been spectacular this year. Chet Holmgren's a Rookie of the Year candidate. Victor Wimenyam obviously, I think is going to win the award for what he put together in San Antonio.
But I mean the Thunder have been putting this thing together for the last couple of years and SGA was able to supercharge it with how good he was, and now they're sitting there at the number one seed in the West. And you know, with Minnesota and Denver. Denver obviously the reigning NBA champs, Nicola Yoki is looking like he's gonna win his third MVP in the last
four years. He's got a great duo with Jamal Murray, really good supporting cast obviously with you know, Michael Porter Junior and Aaron Gordon and could tave his callwell, Pepe. They are obviously the rainy chance for a reason. Minnesota is incredibly interesting because they play really big with Karl Anthony Towns now that he's back, of course, and Rudy Gobert, and you mentioned Anthony Edwards,
who's turning into legitimately one of my favorite players in the league. He's so athletic, he can get to the rim, he can put the ball on the deck like he can do pretty much everything, and he loves to defend. Which I love about him is that he loves to defend on the other end. So they're a dangerous team because of how big and how well
defensively that they play. Obviously with the Clippers, who haven't been able to fulfill the expectations of what they've put together with Paul George and Kawhi Leonard over the years for you know, the kind of playoff run that would have lead to an NBA championship. Now you throw James Harden into the mix, Russell Westbrook as well, maybe this is kind of it for them as far as this group is concerned on whether or not they can you know, win a
championship. They getting ready to move into a new building, you know, next season. Obviously the Mavericks and what they're doing. The Suns are an interesting team because they gone all in with Kevin Durant Bradley Beal and of course Devin Booker there and they've got their team for a while now because they can't really spend outside of what they've gotten. They did sign Grayson Allen to an extension, but that's just to keep him obviously, you know, internally there.
But yeah, the Suns with their top three guys, they can score with anybody, but they've been terrible in the fourth quarter. So how does that translate, you know, into the postseason? And you mentioned the Lakers as well. The Lakers over the last month or so have really kind of figured it out with Lebron and Anthony Davis, who's been healthy relatively all year
long, as well good role players with Ruyatra Mora and Austin Reeves. Like, the West is incredibly deep and it's as talented as it's ever been. All ten teams you know who made the play in and playoffs finished you know, ten games or more above five hundred. The West was incredibly deep and
difficult this year. So if you get out of the West this season and represent the West in the NBA Finals, you have went through a gauntlet to get there because of how incredibly good and talented and deep as conferences this year. But you're right, there's a lot of incredible storylines going into these playoffs
for sure. Okay, staying on the West, Kevin, and this is a fascinating conversation to me, and Mikey brought this up just moments ago, talking about maybe the passing of the torch from the teams that we kind of think of as super relevant right now, But mainly it's based on reputation and
old fears of these teams, namely the Lakers the Warriors. Now you have these kind of mystery guests in Sacramento in Oklahoma City, which brings me to this and we're gonna have to use our imaginations here a little bit to answer this question, I think. But the Mavericks have just been otherworldly since the
trade. What do you think? Where do you is it unrealistic to speculate that had the Mavericks started this eighty two game season with the roster they have right now, having it figured out the way they have it right now, is it unrealistic to think that they could just as easily be the number one seed in the West had they had everything in place from Game one. I
don't think it's unrealistic. What's funny about that is is I think people forget that the Mavericks started not in three this season, Like through their first twelve games, they were pretty pretty dog one good themselves with the version that they had after acquired you know, Grant Williams and obviously with Darren Jones Junior dantexem as well. But you know, they were pretty good through the first you
know, twelve games of the season. You know, it got to a point where this team was only three games above five hundred after forty nine games at twenty six and twenty three, and we're looking around, like, is this really the group that can really get them to where they want to go. And then, as you mentioned, with the trades of PJ. Washington and Daniel Gaffer, they finally got guys that fit what Jason Kidd wanted to
do from especially a defensive standpoint. With that LinkedIn that athleticism that they brought, and it really turned things around. I mean, in the most meaningful games that they played when they were just three games above five hundred at twenty six and twenty three, I mean they won twenty four out of thirty one
games to get to fifty and thirty two. Of course, the last two games, you know, the starters in deep preserves didn't play, so those games didn't obviously, you know, matter, But that's how good this team was and that kind of pace that they were were on. Yeah, it's not unrealistic to think that this group would have been challenging for the number one
seed potentially if this group had been together. Obviously would take some time for them to gel and put things together and learn how to play with one another.
But no, I think that's I think that's fair that this group, based a way that they played in the second half, they have been together all year, they could have possibly challenged for the number one seed for sure, So that kind of you know, using that logic, I think it's safe to say that where they are at number six, they're probably a little bit better than their seeding as it stands right now is. And I think we should expect a little more than you would expect from a normal sixth seed
in the West for them moving forward. Well, I mean they got to the five, so I mean they're a five mass yeah, yeah, no, no, no, yeah, yeah, I mean, look, yeah, I think where they are is based off of what they were able to
achieve, especially in that second half. And you're right, this there's that should raise expectations for this team, given what they've been able to do and the kind of pace of winning that they've been on to give you a confident idea that, yeah, they have a chance to legitimately challenge to get to
the Western Conference finals this year. And I think for a lot of Mavericks fans they feel good about that because this is this is the best roster that Luca has been surrounded with, you know, and now his first six seasons in the league. So Mavericks fans should feel good about what they should see hopefully in this postseason going forward. Here's Kevin Gray, hosts to the MAVs pre and posts and all things Mavericks here on ninety seven won the Freak.
I am and talk me down if you need to. I am so bullish on what this team can achieve this year. I'm talking of the Mountain. I think they have a chance. I'm not you know, Hell Boston who knows, and Denver obviously, and the teams we mentioned fine. I know Kyrie has got something in his head where he wants to show that their last departure playoff departure in Brooklyn was a fluke, he said, I can't wait to show him Luca. You know, he steps up his game when it
matters more. I mean, I'm just big bullish, but it's one step at a time, and we do start with the Clippers, who, again, casual fan might be like, look, these are kind of some old heads. Phase one is the team is night and day better with Kawhi Leonard on the floor. He hasn't played in a couple of weeks. He's got some sort of leg injury. You got anything on the status of Kawhi Leonard going into this thing, and then anything else on the clips alone? Man,
I feel like they don't love each other. I think Paul George kind of disappears. Sometimes there's some headbutting going on there. I heard this from a Clippers blogger just last night. I was listening to all this stuff. So I guess your thoughts on how phase one of a deep playoff run for
the mass is going to look against the LA Clippers. Yeah, I mean Kawhi Leonard's you know, knee injury is shrouded in mystery, and I think the Clippers honestly don't mind that because it doesn't really serve them to, you know, advise on his status until they absolutely have to by the time we get to game one, you know, on Sunday at two thirty in the afternoon. So I think as the week goes on, we'll try to get a better idea. But there really hasn't been much of an update, you
know, on Kawhi in terms of his status. But I would anticipate, like if I'm the Mavericks, I'm anticipating him to play in Game one and attacking my game plans with the idea that Kawhi is going to play. And even at this stage in his career, he's still one of the best two
way players in the league. We've seen what he's been able to do against the Mavericks, you know, in twenty and twenty one, you know, particularly in twenty one, where he really put the Clippers you know, on his back to help them, you know, take out the Mavericks, you know, in seven games. But at the same time, you know, for Luca, you know, the example that I keep coming back to is
that, and you guys could appreciate the reference. You know, Michael Jordan had to go through the Detroit Pistons to eventually get to a title all those years that he battled the bad Boys and you know the Jordan rules that were created for him, and you know, with Isaiah Thomas and all those guys, it feels like for Luca, the Clippers are his version of the Detroit Pistons. At some point, He's got to go through Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to eventually get to where you know, he wants to go, much
like how Michael had to get through Isaiah to get there. And even in the Western Conference final run that the mass made a couple of years ago, you know, they took out the Utah Jazz and of course they took out you know, the Phoenix Suns before losing to the Warriors. And the Clippers are in an interesting place because you know, there's no guarantee that this group, as constructed as they are right now, you know, returns next year.
Paul George has not signed an extension there, James Harden is going to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, and they've got a lot riding on this in terms of this era. So I wonder how much of the pressure plays into what this team has to achieve based on who they are and what changes could be coming for them at the end of this
year. And for the Mavericks, they've kind of relished that role of kind of sending teams packing, you know, into dysfunctional offseasons because I mean, the Utah Jazz were broken up after have the Mavericks you know, dispatched to them. The Suns were never the same after the Mavericks you know, took them out, you know, in the West semi. So maybe the Mavericks can relish another opportunity to send an organization into dysfunctional chaos, if you will,
by taking them out. And I'm sure Luca and Kyrie and you mentioned I love the point about Kyrie because you know, his Celtics and Nets playoff runs weren't necessarily great, but I think at this stage in his career, he's extremely motivated to show that he's still that guy based on not what he just did in the regular season, but how much in how good he's been in the postseason in years past to be able to now showcase that once again,
especially alongside Luka Doncic. Now, okay, I'm I'm encouraged just based on you know, Mikey and I've been talking about this all morning and breaks and before the show and having you on. I'm encouraged that I don't feel like a myopic Homer MAVs fan having the expectation that this team maybe should, but likely could go to the Western Conference finals, which brings me to another point and help help us through this, because this is something Mikey and I've
been battling all morning. Are we being myopic Homer MAVs fans thinking that it is criminal if Luca doesn't win the MVP? You've seen everything. I know you've seen everything we watched. We all watched the Mark Followell breakdown with demeris
about going over every element of this season? Are we Are we so just glued in to Luca because we watch him on a daily basis and we live in the same city, and we're just missing something from Oklahoma City in Denver that they're seeing that that is probably maybe a little bit better than what we're seeing here. No, I think this has been The three candidates that you have in Luca, Yokich, and Sga are all deserving of the award. For me, particularly though, and to your point, you know, Luca
for me is the MVP. I mean, look, the guy, We've never seen a thirty four, nine and nine season. He finished top fifteen in points, rebounds, assists, in steals per game. He's one of only four players to ever do that in NBA history. You know, they get fifty wins, they get a top five seed in the West. He's got the most consecutive you know, thirty point triple doubles, thirty five point triple doubles, like any way that you slice it, whether it be the
advanced numbers or the regular counting numbers. I mean, he put together arguably one of the most historic offensive seasons that we've ever seen. And even the criticism of his defense he started to alleviate because he finished top ten and steals him was one of the better, you know, isolation defenders. And that's something that folks who have been complaining about. Well, he's not a legitimate MVP candidate until he shows he could do it, you know, on both
sides of the floor. Well he did that and then some this season. So I tweeted out the other day, I said, you know, just the idea of having a thirty four nine and nine season, something we've never seen before and winning fifty games to do it, and a team that I believe, if I remember corrected, was forty six and twenty four in the games that he played like he's affecting winning in a way that would lead to
an MVP type of year. But if you tell me that NICOLEA. Yokis based on some of the you know, nerdy advanced numbers, that, yeah, you could legitimately give him the MVP. Again, that's fine. What I don't want people to do, fellas, is I don't want folks to give Nicola Yokis to the MVP because of quote unquote trying to make up for what they didn't give him last year in terms of the MVP because embiid closed the way that he did. I don't want that narrative to be built if
you're gonna build it based off of what these players did this year. Yeah, for me, it's Luka Doncic and it honestly it's close, but in my mind really shouldn't be that close. I love I'll let you go. Last thing. I'm going to Vegas this weekend. I'm putting one hundred bucks on the MAVs to win the title. It's sixteen to one any reason that's a bad idea. I mean, I'm not saying they're gonna win, but sixteen to one, I feel like that. I feel pretty value mac the
league. You're about to get a Venmo for me for for a hundreds show them right, Like, I mean, things go poorly, What's why would they go poorly for the MAVs Because optimism couldn't be higher around here. I mean, if they go poorly for the MAVs, it's because the Paul George, no, particularly the James Harden. I think James Harten is the X factor in this series because you know, you believe what you're gonna get from
in the most part from Kawhi and from Paul George. But James Hard to me is the X factor because his ability to distribute as a passer, you know, still a good score. He can do a lot of different things
that could put the Mavericks in a bind. But the way that the Mavericks would lose this series is that they would just fall apart and collapse defensively that we've seen at times this year, but haven't really seen since the beginning of February, where they've been, you know, arguably the best defense you know in the league. So I think this series will go at minimum six games, if not the full seven. But yeah, I would definitely, I mean sixteen to one for them to win the title. Yet I think that's
pretty good, pretty good value there. So look, it's gonna be a hell of a series. The fact that we're doing this again is just kind of wild to begin with. But where these two teams are versus what they have been in the first two times they've met is night and day. So it should be one hell of a series for sure. Kevin Gray, he's the best. He's on ninety seven, the freak for all the Mavericks.
Coridge pub your YouTube for me, please, Yeah, you can go subscribe to my YouTube channel at Kevin Gray Sports as it's my name and sports, and you can follow me the same on Twitter or ex or whatever we call it, the same at Kevin Gray Sports as well. So like you're approaching six thousand subs on YouTube something like that, let's go happy for you. Yeah, yeah, I appreciate you, all right, Kean, thanks for
jumping in. Man. We'll have you on in the next couple of weeks regularly if you don't mind, Man, we need to keep our heads right as hopefully a long playoff run is a foot for your Dallas Mavericks this Sunday in Los Angeles. Thank you, Kevin. Thanks for the time. K That is the best Kevin we've ever had on There's no question. That's a good Kevin. That's a good Kevin. Let's get him in here. Yeah every morning. They don't need European Kevin trades around. You need Kevio,
who has got to be struck. Okay, so strutting off the airplace, I know you have been so MAVs forny today and that was just a shot of testosterone having KG on Yep. I'm so ready for this. I need That's why I asked him. I need someone to tell me to not bet more. I think they're gonna win the fing NBA Championship, and I know that's that's way too much. I know way too much. What are the odds for Western Conference Finals? Six to one? Okay? Do two two
bets? I am yeah, because they could run through the West and then get smacked by Boston. Okay, I want will you bet one hundred for me? Yes on the Western Conference and another one hundred on the finals. To win it, to win it all if you agree to another hundred on one spin of roulette, one number, all right, I'll vent Okay, all right, you're gonna do this. I'm do it. My proxy gamblers, Weddy comb over shale. Is I going to be screaming in Vegas getting
it done the most we could win? Okay, we win the roulette. That's one hundred. Well let's do the math in yeah, right and discuss. Next we have some of your talkbacks. I think we've got birthdays, d'jore and bandal. Okay, we got bandle. Everything can be yours. Next on ninety seven to one, The Freak